The young brown-haired private on duty heard a cheerful voice say "Hi" and looked up to see whom it belonged to; then eyed her up and down. Willow noticed his stare. "What's wrong? Do I have somethin' on my uniform?" She checked herself over hoping that it was something simple and that she hadn't blown her cover before she even got on the base.
"Where's your vehicle ma'm? How did you get here?" he wanted to know.
"Oh, my car broke down about two miles back. Had to hoof it the rest of the way." She thought fast and hoped her excuse was believable.
"Well, hang on. I'll call the motorpool and have them tow it in." He seemed to believe her.
"Already did. They said they'd get to it when they could. I just need to get inside and report for duty right now before I'm late.
"That I can help with. Got your security pass?" The man asked.
"Sure do." Willow fished around in her pocket and pulled out her hotel key-card; then handed it to him. She reached out and touched his mind with her own, causing him to see what he wanted to see; namely a valid security pass. Then as he ran her key-card through a scanner she caused it to re-read the last card that had been scanned.
"There you go; all set." He told her handing the 'pass' back to her. "I get off in an hour. If they haven't gotten to your car by then I'll see if I can get them to step on it before I leave."
"Thank you. That's nice of you." Willow said smiling sweetly and walked onto the base.
*** *** ***
"What do we plan to do if she does show up?" Daniel asked.
"We're going to take her into custody and interrogate her. What did you think we were going to do? Serve her coffee and give her the grand tour? Come on Daniel, you've been here long enough to know how it works." Jack scolded the archeologist.
"Dr. Jackson we need to get as much information as we can from her. What her intentions are, how she does the things Jack and Teal'c saw her do," The General raised his hand stopping Daniel from interrupting. "If it turns out that we can make an ally out of her and her people then that'll be all well and good but until we know exactly who we're dealing with we have to treat her as a possible threat."
"Don't you see that we were the ones to instigate this? If she does come here it will be because she realized that we were following her and has perceived us as a threat to her. And however she retaliates we would have brought on ourselves." Daniel continued his argument.
*** *** ***
As Willow arrived at the elevator that she had learned would take her to the main part of the base underneath the mountain, the doors slid open. She waited for a group of soldiers to make their exit. "Great timing." She thought to herself when she was able to get in without having to bother with any security measures. Looking at the panel, she saw buttons for eleven floors. Taking a few seconds to decide, she hit the button for the bottom floor. She figured that would be where they hid their biggest secrets. If not then she would simply work her way back up.
*** *** ***
Stepping onto the floor she soon noticed a second elevator. The odd thing was, the top floor didn't have an elevator here. Also this elevator had a scanner in place of the call button suggesting that wherever it went was pretty important.
This meant that was where she wanted to go.
*** *** ***
Willow walked at a casual pace taking in everything she saw. Whenever she happened on someone she tried to look like she belonged there. The twelfth floor appeared to be holding cells. The cells looked normal and not designed to hold demons so she continued her search.
*** *** ***
It wasn't until she had made it to the nineteenth floor, that the witch started to see anything interesting. She saw a woman in a lab coat come out a pair of double doors ahead, turn in the opposite direction and head down the hall. Waiting until the woman was out of sight and since there was no one else around, she used her senses to make sure the room was empty then quickly manipulated the electronic lock and entered the room.
Inside she found a lab of some sort with various tools scattered around a tabletop, some tools she recognized some she didn't. Then she spotted something against the wall covered with a tarp. Walking over she pulled the tarp back to reveal something that looked like a prop from a low budget sci-fi movie. It was about six feet long and cylindrical with some kind of point on one end. Not recognizing the piece of equipment or having the time to examine it the witch simply covered it back up.
Next to the 'prop' was a computer. She got close enough to read the screen, but all she could decipher was something about a plasma beam strength test. Before she could change the screen to something else, she heard the door begin to open and quickly stepped back and tried to look innocent, despite the fact that her heart was about to burst out of her chest.
A stocky man wearing a lab coat and wild dark hair came in and stopped in his tracks when he noticed her. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
Thinking fast she came up with what she hoped was a plausible excuse. "Oh, I was sent to tell a –ah- -somebody to go and report about some kind of test results.
"What! Now!" The man appeared nervous. "They're not ready. I still need to – wait. Why didn't the General just use the phone?" the lab coat asked.
"Ah- He tried but no one answered. And he really wanted to see them."
"Yeah, sure. I'll just – You know what, just tell him I'll be there soon. I just need to crunch some numbers and dot a few 'i's – Just tell him I'll be there soon O.K." he was getting nervous again and vibrated with energy.
"Sure, and relax I don't think the General'll have you shot for being a little late. But I'll see if I can't stall him and buy you a little more time so make sure everything is just right before you see him." She lied while backing toward the exit.
"Ah, yeah, thanks." He was already sitting at the computer with his back to her when she left.
Once through the doors she paused and with a shake of her head, muttered to herself. "That was a close one." Then started to put some distance between her and the lab. She knew she should get out of there now while the getting was good but she hadn't found what she was looking for yet. So, she would continue to investigate and hope her luck held up.
*** *** ***
General Hammond was sitting at his desk with Jack and Sam across from him. The Major was about to say something when a knock interrupted her. Everyone looked up as the door opened and Jay Felger came in.
"Ah, hey General I'm sorry about interrupting but the soldier you sent said you were in a hurry to see this." He apologized waving a manila folder.
"What's that?"
"The test results on the plasma beam. Remember you sent a soldier to tell me to hurry them up?"
"I never sent anyone to you for anything."
"Sure you did. Young, pretty red-headed girl about this tall." He held his hand up to approximately the girl's height. Then a startled look came across his face when the three officers shot out of their seats.
"Where did you see her?" Jack practically yelled the question.
Felger jumped at the outburst. "In my lab. She said you sent her." indicating The General. "What's the big deal?"
The General picked up the phone on his desk and punched a number, "We have an intruder. Seal up the mountain."
Before he could hang up Jack broke in. "General, if she hears the alarm she'll know we're on to her and then who knows what she'll do."
Understanding the suggestion, The General spoke into the phone again, "Don't sound any alarms just close the mountain quietly." Then hung up.
"What's going on?" Felger was confused and starting to worry.
Carter was the one to answer. "We think the woman you saw is the one that we've been looking for."
"You mean the one that, KKEEK ed that Goa'uld?" He asked trying to imitate the sound of a neck breaking with a hint of fear as he rubbed his throat thankful he didn't end up the same way.
"Yes, that one." Jack had started to lose patience with the scientist. "When did you see her?"
"About a half hour ago. She was already in the lab when I got there. I thought she was a soldier, I mean she looked like one." He explained in a hurry.
"Sir, we can check the security tapes for that time frame and track her movements to where she is now." Sam suggested.
"Do it." Hammond commanded.
*** *** ***
Willow walked down another corridor a couple levels below where she met that scientist guy. This one appeared to be a medical station. So far her luck had held out and there was no sign that she had been discovered. That all changed as she approached a 'T' junction and was met by several guards coming at her from around both corners. "Stay right where you are and don't move!" one of them commanded as they surrounded her.
Willow complied and raised her hands in the universal sign for "Don't Shoot". The only sound she made was a nervous "EHHH".
*** *** ***
When General Hammond and sg-1 came to the scene they saw the redhead standing in the middle of a circle of guards. Recognition showed on her face when her gaze fell on Jack and Sam.
"Alright Miss, Who are you and what are you doing on my base?" Hammond asked sternly
"Oh, like you don't already know. Why else would you have those two follow me," She indicated Jack and Sam, the anger was clear in her voice. "I know for a fact that you Initiative guys have a file on me. So don't pretend you don't know who I am. As to why I'm here, I came to find out why you were after me and if you're up to your old tricks again. But, since I have your attention now, I'll just ask. Why are you after me?" She took a deep breath trying to calm down.
That's when Dr. Frasier walked up having heard the commotion from her office.
"Listen up!" Jack was the one to speak out angrily. "This is our base and we're the ones with the guns pointed at you. That means we get to ask the questions. Now, let's try this again. Who are you and what are you talking about?"
*** *** ***
Willow really didn't like this gray-haired guy's tone and felt like it was time to show him who was actually in charge here. She touched the minds of each one of the rifle toting men around her then with a clear commanding tone said, "Sleep!"
The soldiers collapsed at her feet.
"Now, who's in control?" She asked warningly as they all drew back.
*** *** ***
Teal'c immediately raised his zat having decided to end this confrontation before she could do anything else. But, before he could fire; the weapon flew from his hand toward the intruder who caught it.
"What's this, a new toy?" She raised the device so that she could examine it and still watch the six people in front of her.
"Please, we don't want to be enemies." Daniel tried to defuse the situation.
"So, you treat all your friends like this, follow them around and watch them without their knowing it." She chastised.
"Listen, we're not this Initiative you're talking about. We were following you because of what happened in the park." Carter tried to calm the woman down.
The woman's eyes widened; then narrowed.
*** *** ***
Willow was surprised when the blonde mentioned the park. Then a thought crossed her mind. She used her power to tap the device in her hands. It felt like the gauntlet. Then she assessed the people with her. Five of them were human. The sixth one wasn't. He felt similar to the attacker from the park but not as strong.
"That guy with the gauntlet worked for you!" her anger flared.
*** *** ***
"No!" Daniel spoke up. He saw where her thoughts were going and wanted to stop it here and now. "The other guy, Jarin, is a friend of ours. In fact we would like to thank you for saving him." At her blank look he continued. "I'm Daniel." He placed a hand on his chest then pointed to the others as he introduced them. "This is General Hammond, Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter, Teal'c and Doctor Frasier. What's your name?"
The woman moved forward stepping over one of the sleeping soldiers, and to their surprise, her fatigues dissolved into the dress she wore earlier. "You expect me to believe that when I'm holding this." she indicated the zat gun ignoring the last question. "It gives off the same vibe as the gauntlet. If he wasn't with you why are you using the same type of stuff? And what about him?" She pointed at Teal'c. "He feels a lot like the other guy did."
"Hey!" Jack yelled drawing the redhead's attention. "First off, we captured that and a lot of other stuff too. So there. Second, Leave Teal'c alone. He helps us fight the Goa'uld."
"Colonel!" Hammond warned. He didn't like that Jack had mentioned the Goa'uld.
"I think it's a little late to hold back now Sir. We certainly don't want her to think that we're allied with them. Do we?"
Hammond thought about it a few seconds then nodded. "Go ahead."
Daniel picked up where Jack left off. "The goa'uld that you killed was an assassin. He was sent after Jarin for helping us fight them."
"What about him, is he a goa'uld?" the woman pointed at Teal'c.
"I am not. I am a jaffa. We were created to serve the Goa'uld and to worship them as gods." Teal'c answered for himself.
"But you don't?"
"Not for several years."
Jack spoke up. "O.k. we answered your questions, How about answering ours? Who are you?"
*** *** ***
"You guys aren't the Initiative are you?" The question sounded more like a statement.
"No." Hammond said
"But you fight these Goa'uld things and don't know anything about me?" She was skeptical.
"That's why we were following you. We wanted to know more about you. We saw you take out that goa'uld but weren't sure why you did it." Carter explained.
"Because he was hurting your friend." Her tone itself seemed to say 'Duhh'
"Told ya so." Daniel blurted out to his colleagues who shot glares at him.
"Why haven't I heard about the Goa'uld before now? They don't sound like very low profile guys to me."
"They aren't. They probably just haven't been to your home planet and that's why ---" Jack never finished.
"MY WHAT!! Whoa! Hold up buster. What do you mean home planet? These Goa'uld are aliens! As in OUTER SPACE ALIENS!! And you think that I ---"
"Well, aren't you" Jack interrupted.
"No!"
"Then what are you?"
"I'm sorry. I haf'ta go. I need to think about this."
"You're not going anywhere. You can't break into a top-secret military base and get away with it." Hammond sounded sure of this.
"Watch me."
Then the redheaded woman just vanished in a flash.